Good news for people who don't like their money: The only known photograph taken of the iceberg that sank the Titanic is going up for auction — and it's expected to fetch over $10,000.

The photo, which has the imaginative title "The Iceberg that Sunk Titanic," is being sold by American auction house RR Auction. It's a 9.75×8-inch photograph taken by Captain W. F. Wood, who was onboard the ship S. S. Etonian at the time. A handwritten note on the front of the photo reads:

Copyright. Blueberg taken by Captain W. F. Wood S. S. Etonian on 12/4/12 in Lat 41° 50 N Long 49° 50 W. Titanic struck 14/4/12 and sank in three hours.

According to PetaPixel, there are a number of reasons that have led experts to believe that the photo is legit.

First, it was captured at a location 2-3 days (in iceberg floating time) from where the ship sank. Second, the shape of the iceberg matches the sketches offered by eyewitnesses who survived the disaster, including the lookout who first spotted the ice in the horizon.

Finally, the iceberg's shape resembles another photo (seen in the 1976 book A Night to Remember) taken from a ship named Prinz Adalbert, which was present in the area during the day after the sinking.

RR Auction notes that the difference in appearance between the two icebergs may be "attributable to the angle of the photographer and the aftermath of impact," and that all these reasons taken together have allowed "noted Titanic experts to establish this photograph as capturing the iceberg everyone has been talking about for the past century."

The auction ends on December 16, 2012, so you still have time to add this to your collection. Also be sure to check out the unseen photos from the sinking of the Titanic that only emerged recently.

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Humanity's demand for energy is growing at an astonishing rate. Combine this with an ever-dwindling supply of fossil fuels, and it becomes painfully clear that something innovative and powerful is required. There's one high-tech proposal that holds tremendous promise — an idea that has been around since the late 1960s. Here's how space-based solar power will eventually solve all our energy needs.

Humans needs more power

Assuming that economic progress and globalization continues at its current pace, we'll need to produce twice the amount of energy that's consumed today by the 2030s — what will reach a monumental 220 trillion kiloWatt hours per year. And by the end of the century, we'll need four times the current rate of consumption.

Just as importantly, we're also going to have to kick the fossil fuel habit — and not only because it'll eventually run out. Rising CO2 emissions are wreaking havoc on the Earth's atmosphere, what's creating environmentally deleterious side-effects at a rate faster than expected.

Moreover, if greenhouse gases are to be brought under control over the course of the next several decades, we'll need to get upwards of 90% of all our energy from either renewable or nuclear sources.

While there are a number of proposals on the table for how we might be able to meet these challenges, none really appear to be truly viable.

Except for solar powered satellites.

Obvious benefits

A closer look at a space-based solution yields a lengthy list of advantages.

Solar powered satellites don't produce any greenhouse gases, nor do they take up valuable real estate on Earth. Once the initial costs are met, they would be relatively cheap to maintain; the solar modules used for generating solar energy have a long service life, not to mention the astounding ROI that would come from a virtually unlimited energy source.

Additionally, they're not constrained by night/day cycles, the weather, or the changing seasons. And indeed, they would be much more efficient than any kind of ground-based station. The collection of solar energy in space is seven times greater per unit area than on the surface of the planet. Moreover, the amount of solar energy available up there is staggering — on the order of billions of times greater than what we draw today; the Earth receives only one part in 2.3 billion of the Sun's output. The potential for scalability is enormous, to say the least.

Solar powered satellites won't be prone to terrorist attacks and they'll reduce geopolitical pressure for oil. According to futurist Keith Henson, space-based solar could be used to power vehicles, like electric cars, or by enabling the production of synthetic fuels — which at a penny per kiloWatt hour would result in gasoline that costs one dollar a gallon.

At the same time, space-based solar would provide true energy independence for those nations who choose to implement it. And on top of that, the energy could be exported to virtually anywhere in the world; it would be especially valuable for isolated areas of the globe, including Africa and India.

Lastly, space-based solar power would also yield tremendous benefits to human and robotic space exploration, including the powering of off-planet colonies on the Moon, Mars, and space stations. It could also serve as the first seed in the development of a Dyson Sphere — a massive array of solar collectors that would completely envelope the sun at a distance of about 1 AU.

How it's going to work

Back in the late 1960s, Peter Glaser proposed the idea of solar powered satellites (SPS), what he envisioned as space-based photovoltaics that could transfer energy wirelessly back down to Earth. His design called for a large platform positioned in space in a high Earth orbit that would continuously collect and convert solar energy into electricity. In turn, that power would be used to drive a wireless power transmission (WPT) that beams the solar energy to receiving stations on Earth — what would be comprised of massive receiving dishes.

A number of visionaries have updated Glaser's vision to include the use of a microwave wireless power transmitter. This would involve large discrete structures (like a solar array and transmitter) that would have to be assembled in space. SPS systems could also include a modular electric/diode array laser WPT concept, involving self-assembling solar power-laser-thermal modules. Other designs call for an extremely modular microwave WPT SPS "sandwich structure" concept, requiring a significant number of small solar power-microwave-thermal modules that would be robotically assembled on orbit.

But to make it happen, we'll need to develop low-cost, environmentally-friendly launch vehicles. Eventually we'll send the materials up in a space elevator, but until then we'll have to come up with something more efficient. Thankfully, SpaceX and other private firms are already working on more efficient launch solutions.

Additionally, we'll require large scale construction and operations stations in orbit — space-based workplaces that would be more complex, larger, and more energy-demanding than the ISS. They would allow for the production of large, simple panels, that are easy to assemble and consist of many identical parts. Eventually, it may be possible to construct an entire flotilla of these solar collectors using materials extracted from asteroids.

Design proposals

As word gets out about the potential for SPS, and as the technology catches up to the idea, a number of design proposals have been put forth; this isn't just idle speculation anymore — it's something that's just about ready for prime-time.

For example, there's SPS-ALPHA (Solar Power Satellite via Arbitrarily Large PHased Array) which is being developed by NASA's John Mankins. Using a "biomimetic" approach, the project calls for huge platforms constructed from tens of thousands of small elements that could deliver tens to thousands of megawatts via wireless power transmission.

It would do this by using a large array of individually controlled thin-film mirrors outfitted on the curved surface of a satellite. These adjustable mirrors would intercept and redirect incoming sunlight toward photovoltaic cells affixed to the backside of the solar power satellite's large array. The Earth-pointing side of the array would be tiled with a collection of microwave-power transmission panels that generate the coherent, low-intensity beam of radio frequency energy and transmits that energy to Earth.

And what's particularly cool about this concept is that it would enable the construction of a solar-power satellite that can be assembled entirely from individual system elements that weigh no more than 110 to 440 pounds (50 to 200 kilograms), allowing all pieces to be mass produced at low cost.

There's also Japan's JAXA's SBSP System. The Japanese space agency want to get a prototype up and running by 2020, and a fully operational system by 2030. Their system is designed to run in a stationary orbit about 22,400 miles above the equator where it will absorb the sunlight with chromium-enhanced solar cells. The SBSP System will transmit energy to Earth using laser beams at about 42% solar-to-laser energy efficiency. Each satellite will beam the energy to a 1.8-mile wide receiving station that'll produce one gigawatt of electricity — what's enough to power 500,000 homes.

Other examples include the Sun Tower, the Dyson-Harrop Satellite (which would harness solar wind power), Solar Disc, and the European Sail Tower SPS.

Timelines

SPS systems have been discussed since the 1970s and have been reviewed periodically by various stakeholders in United States and elsewhere — but the idea has never been seen as something that's cost effective or technologically feasible. These sentiments are changing, however.

Last year, the International Academy of Astronautics published an exhaustive report lauding the benefits of space-based solar power, urging the international community to take the prospect seriously. The report contained over a dozen recommendations on how to get started, while predicting that space solar power will be technically feasible within 10 to 20 years using technologies that already exist.

The authors also noted that the project would be economically viable in the next several decades, but under specific conditions having to do with future energy markets and the willingness of governments to get started (what could be motivated by environmental concerns).

Additionally, flight experiments will be required, as will be the ironing-out of any policy or regulatory issues — what could definitely take some time. Needless to say, some groups and individuals may take great exception to the idea of having microwaves and laser beams shooting down onto the Earth's surface — not to mention the nightmarish potential for the weaponization of this technology.

And in terms of expense, the IAA proposed a cost-sharing scheme in which nations would work together to bring the price down — what could cost as much as a trillion dollars.

But given the incredible benefits — not to mention the tremendous need — it's a no-brainer that this needs to happen.

Sources:

• National Space Society
• International Academy of Astronautics
• KurzweilAI
• AZO CleanTech
• Keith Henson, "An Uncertain Future and Dollar a Gallon Gasoline"
• Inhabitat
• Engadget

• Images: NASA, Inhabitat, JAXA.

A recent press release from DNA Diagnostics opens thusly, "A team of scientists can verify that their 5-year long DNA study, currently under peer-review, confirms the existence of a novel hominin hybrid species, commonly called "Bigfoot" or "Sasquatch," living in North America."

Wow, so there you have it, folks — Bigfoot is real because genes. *Sighs* Okay, let's take a closer look at this "finding".

According to Melba S. Ketchum, "extensive DNA sequencing" is indicating that Sasquatch is a human offshoot that emerged in North America about 15,000 years ago after interbreeding with humans and an unknown primate species. Cuz, you know, there were unknown primate species all over North America at the time.

Sweeping that inconvenient reality aside, Ketchum says they sequenced three complete Sasquatch nuclear genomes, which led her to conclude that there's a hybrid on the loose — the elusive and xenophobic Sasquatch. She writes:

"Our study has sequenced 20 whole mitochondrial genomes and utilized next generation sequencing to obtain 3 whole nuclear genomes from purported Sasquatch samples. The genome sequencing shows that Sasquatch mtDNA is identical to modern Homo sapiens, but Sasquatch nuDNA is a novel, unknown hominin related to Homo sapiens and other primate species. Our data indicate that the North American Sasquatch is a hybrid species, the result of males of an unknown hominin species crossing with female Homo sapiens.

Genetic testing, say the researchers, has already ruled out Neanderthals and the Denisovans as contributors to Sasquatch mtDNA or nuDNA. "The male progenitor that contributed the unknown sequence to this hybrid is unique as its DNA is more distantly removed from humans than other recently discovered hominins like the Denisovan individual," says Ketchum.

"Sasquatch nuclear DNA is incredibly novel and not at all what we had expected. While it has human nuclear DNA within its genome, there are also distinctly non-human, non-archaic hominin, and non-ape sequences. We describe it as a mosaic of human and novel non-human sequence. Further study is needed and is ongoing to better characterize and understand Sasquatch nuclear DNA."

Needless to say, the "study," which is purportedly under peer review, has already been met with a flurry of criticism. Our favorite retort comes from Eric Berger at the Houston Chronicle who writes:

Wow, so that's all very science-y sounding and official and stuff. It must be true. Mustn't it?

RIIIIIIGHT.

There are several significant issues with this. First is this line from the news release, "Full details of the study will be presented in the near future when the study manuscript publishes."

That is a massive red flag. Real research scientists almost never pre-announce their research findings. That is, they don't go public with big news until it has been vetted by peer reviewers and, at the very least, been accepted for publication. In this case Ketchum is stating a discovery as scientific fact before other scientists have studied her evidence. In effect she is using the mantle of science to confer credibility on her discovery, without actually deserving the credibility.

That's a big no-no.

And as Berger also points out, Ketchum's company, DNA Diagnostics, got an "F" from the Better Business Bureau and has had more than a dozen complaints lodged against it.

There's also the question as to where Ketchum et al got the DNA sample. That would be important to mention, no?

Well, as further digging reveals, the DNA sample was acquired from a blueberry bagel left in the backyard of a Michigan home that, according to the owner, is regularly visited by Bigfoot. How nice.

Yeah, thinking that the study won't make it past the peer review stage (if it's even there at all) — but given that Ketchum is making a documentary about her finding, it's very possible that we haven't heard that last of this story yet.

Unfortunately.

H/t Slashgear.

Images: MovieFanCentral, Houston Chronicle.

It's been a while since we last reported on the British Skylon space plane — a reusable launch vehicle that will be powered by a two-in-one air-breathing rocket engine that can boost the plane to Mach 5.5 and a height of nearly 30 km (18 miles). The latest news is that the theoretic Sabre Engine ain't so theoretic anymore; it passed a critical heat tolerance and cooling test — what will now pave the way for Skylon to move from concept to reality.

Because of the successful test, Reaction Engines Limited, the British company working on the engine, won an important endorsement from the European Space Agency. Speaking at the press conference today, ESA's Mark Ford had this to say:

ESA are satisfied that the tests demonstrate the technology required for the Sabre engine development. One of the major obstacles to a reusable vehicle has been removed. The gateway is now open to move beyond the jet age.

And indeed, this really is big news. As Skymania's Paul Sutherland noted, it's "the biggest breakthrough in flight technology since the invention of the jet engine."

The Sabre engine was the crucial piece in the reusable space plane puzzle. Once built and operational, Skylon will take off and land like a conventional plane, but still achieve orbit by mixing air-breathing jets for takeoff, and landing with rockets (fueled by onboard oxygen) once it gets past a certain speed.

The recent breakthrough had to do to the development of a heat exchanger that's able to cool air sucked into the engine at high speed from 1,000 degrees Celsius to minus 150 degrees in one hundredth of a second. It's this critical technology that will allow the Sabre engine to surpass the bounds of a traditional jet engine — by as much as twofold.

Chris Wickham explains:

With the Sabre engine in jet mode, the air has to be compressed before being injected into the engine's combustion chambers. Without pre-cooling, the heat generated by compression would make the air hot enough to melt the engine.

The challenge for the engineers was to find a way to cool the air quickly without frost forming on the heat exchanger, which would clog it up and stop it working.

Using a nest of fine pipes that resemble a large wire coil, the engineers have managed to get round this fatal problem that would normally follow from such rapid cooling of the moisture in atmospheric air.

They are tight-lipped on exactly how they managed to do it.

"We are not going to tell you how this works," said the company's chief designer Richard Varvill, who started his career at the military engine division of Rolls-Royce. "It is our most closely guarded secret."

Once fully developed, the Skyplane will travel five times the speed of sound and reach an altitude of nearly 30 km — what is 20% of the speed and altitude required to reach orbit. To make it all the way into space, the plane will switch to rocket mode.

Moving forward, the company hopes to raise an additional $400 million to fund the next three-year development phase, which would include the construction of a small-scale version of the complete engine.

Sources: Skymania, Reuters.

Images: Reaction Engines Ltd.

Though they've never actually seen it with their own eyes, scientists know that DNA's structure is composed of a spiraling corkscrew. They know this thanks to molecular theory and and an old-time technique called X-ray crystallography, where patterns of dots are converted into an overarching image using mathematics. But now, for the first time ever, scientists have actually snapped a real image of DNA using an electron microscope — spiraling corkscrew and all.

The image was taken by Enzo di Fabrizio from the University of Genoa, Italy. He choreographed the scene by pulling a small strand of DNA from a diluted solution and then propping it up like a clothesline between two nanoscopic silicon pillars.

The trick to the technique was in acquiring a discrete strand of DNA that could be stretched out and ready to view with an electron microscope. Di Fabrizio managed this by creating a pattern of pillars that repelled water — which resulted in quick moisture evaporation and a residual strand of DNA all ready to go.

Then, in order to create a high-resolution image, di Fabrizio drilled tiny holes in the base of the nanopillar bed and shone beams of electrons.

Aside from creating a cool image, the technique will allow the researchers to investigate DNA in greater detail, as well as seeing how it interacts with proteins and RNA.

The paper, "Direct Imaging of DNA Fibers: The Visage of Double Helix," was published in Nano Letters.

Supplementary source: New Scientist.

Images: Enzo di Fabrizio.

Researchers scouring the Chocoan forest in northwestern Ecuador have discovered an unknown species of blunt-headed vine snake, what they're formally calling Imantodes chocoensis. And it's pretty neat — it's got an absolutely huge set of eyes, a head the size of a penny, and a long, stringy body that's proportioned very weirdly. The nocturnal Imantodes live in trees and hunt frogs and lizards.

The snake was discovered by Omar Torres-Carvajal from Museo de Zoología QCAZ, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador. His finding increases the number of blunt-headed vine snake species to seven.

These snakes, which tend to live in an area around Mexico and Argentina, differ from other species in having a very thin body, a disproportionately slender neck, bug-like eyes, and, of course, a blunt head.

A tree-dwelling snake, they use the weight of their lower bodies to fling their heads and upper bodies from branch to branch — which likely explains their odd proportions. When hunting, they press the lower third of their bodies against a branch for support to free their heads and their upper body — what allows them to snatch their prey. They're also mildly venomous.

Interestingly, DNA analysis — which proved that it was a never-seen-before species — indicated that its closest living relative lives in the Amazon on the other side of the Andes. Torres-Carvajal theorizes that the their common ancestor was cut in two after the rise of the Andes mountains.

Details of the finding can be found in the journal ZooKeys.

Images: Omar Torres-Carvajal.

Once complete, it will occupy a space larger than the Great Pyramids of Giza and rise taller than St. Paul's Cathedral. It's called the Mastaba — a 150 meter (500 feet) tall flat-topped pyramidal structure that was just approved for construction by Abu Dhabi officials. Designed by acclaimed artist Christo, the colossal monument will cost $340 million to build and, perhaps most striking of all, it will be made from over 410,000 multi-colored oil barrels.

The stacked oil barrels will be painted in colors inspired by the yellow and red sands of the desert — what Christo says will recreate the visual effect of an Islamic mosaic. Speaking to the Observer, he said: "When the sun rises, the vertical wall will become almost full of gold."

It's estimated that Mastaba, which will be constructed in the desert about 100 miles from Abu Dhabi City, will take 30 months to build and require hundreds of workers.

The structure will be accompanied by an "art campus" with an exhibition about the project, as well as a luxury hotel and restaurant. Abu Dhabi officials are hoping to attract up to 2 million visitors each year.

Christo, who came up with the design 30 years ago, insists that it's not a pyramid, and that the name and geometrical form were inspired by an ancient Mesopotamian mud bench for desert travellers to rest. The idea, says Christo, is to create a sculpture that's rooted in the great tradition of Islamic architecture.

He also denies that the oil barrels are a kind of social commentary on the region, noting his 1960s "Iron Curtain" exhibit that blocked off a Paris street with oil drums. Christo insists that his ideas have nothing to do with economic or political events, and are instead, in the words of Jeanne-Claude, works of "joy and beauty."

Source: Guardian.

Images: Guardian & Tocho.

Nathan Rich of the New York Times has put together an article about the apparent "immortal" jellyfish, Turritopsis dohrnii, and how insights into its lifecycle could eventually lead to powerful rejuvenation therapies for humans. Not only is this article a must-read from the perspective of radical life extension, it's also a beautifully written pean to scientists and the impassioned dreams that often drive their research.

Intrigued by the work being done by marine biologist Shin Kubota, Rich decided to pay him a visit in Japan. Kubota, who grew up on science fiction, makes no bones about the ultimate purpose of his work: He wants to cure human aging — and to that end he's studying the inner workings of Turritopsis to find out how the species performs its remarkable trick.

"Turritopsis application for human beings is the most wonderful dream of mankind," he told Rich. "Once we determine how the jellyfish rejuvenates itself, we should achieve very great things. My opinion is that we will evolve and become immortal ourselves."

And indeed, Turritopsis is a good place to start. Like other jellyfish, it goes through two main stages of life, polyp and medusa. During the medusa phase, it produces eggs or sperm, which combine to create larvae that form new polyps. In most jellyfish species, the medusa dies after it spawns — but not the Turritopsis. Rich explains:

A Turritopsis medusa, however, sinks to the bottom of the ocean floor, where its body folds in on itself — assuming the jellyfish equivalent of the fetal position. The bell reabsorbs the tentacles, and then it degenerates further until it becomes a gelatinous blob. Over the course of several days, this blob forms an outer shell. Next it shoots out stolons, which resemble roots. The stolons lengthen and become a polyp. The new polyp produces new medusas, and the process begins again.

It's this endless cycle that gives scientists reason to believe Turritopsis is immortal — or infinitely capable of regenerating itself at the very least. And surprisingly, as Kevin J. Peterson told the NYT, "There's a shocking amount of genetic similarity between jellyfish and human beings."

Further insights into Turritopsis could have profound implications for medicine, particularly the fields of cancer and longevity. To that end, scientists are studying its microRNA, what are tiny strands of genetic material that regulate gene expression and serve a crucial role in stem cell function.

And as for Kubota, it's clear that Rich was in the presence of a special character — a scientist unmoved by criticism and driven by his vision of a higher goal. Rich recounts the time Kubota demonstrated the jellyfish's special skill:

"Watch," he said. "I will make this medusa rejuvenate."

The most reliable way to make the immortal jellyfish age in reverse, Kubota explained to me, is to mutilate it. With two fine metal picks, he began to perforate the medusa's mesoglea, the gelatinous tissue that composes the bell. After Kubota poked it six times, the medusa behaved like any stabbing victim - it lay on its side and began twitching spasmodically. Its tentacles stopped undulating, and its bell slightly puckered. But Kubota, in what appeared a misdirected act of sadism, didn't stop there. He stabbed it 50 times in all. The medusa had long since stopped moving. It lay limp, crippled, its mesoglea torn, the bell deflated. Kubota looked satisfied.

"You rejuvenate!" he yelled at the jellyfish. Then he started laughing.

We checked on the stab victim every day that week to watch its transformation. On the second day, the depleted, gelatinous mess had attached itself to the floor of the petri dish; its tentacles were bent in on themselves. "It's transdifferentiating," Kubota said. "Dynamic changes are occurring." By the fourth day the tentacles were gone, and the organism ceased to resemble a medusa entirely; it looked instead like an amoeba. Kubota called this a "meatball." By the end of the week, stolons had begun to shoot out of the meatball.

This method is, in a certain sense, cheating, as physical distress induces rejuvenation. But the process also occurs naturally when the medusa grows old or sick. In Kubota's most recent paper on Turritopsis, he documented the natural rejuvenation of a single colony in his lab between 2009 and 2011. The idea was to see how quickly the species would regenerate itself when left to its own devices. During the two-year period, the colony rebirthed itself 10 times, in intervals as brief as one month. In his paper's conclusion, published in the journal Biogeography, Kubota wrote, "Turritopsis will be kept forever by the present method and will...contribute to any study for everyone in the future."

Over the course of his investigation and interview, Rich was also treated to several songs written by Kubota in tribute to the jellyfish. In one song he sang:

My name is Shin Kubota
Associate professor of Kyoto University
At Shirahama, Wakayama Prefecture
I live next to an aquarium
Enjoying marine-biology research
Every day, I walk on the beach
Scooping up with a plankton net
Searching for wondrous creatures
Searching for unknown jellyfish.
Dedicate my life to small creatures
Patrolling the beaches every day
Hot spring sandals are always on
Necessary item to get in the sea
Scarlet medusa rejuvenates
Scarlet medusa is immortal

And it's not just Kubota who has become enamoured by this species; this simple jellyfish has taken on epic proportions in Japan on account of its preternatural powers.

Do yourself a favor and read the entire thing — this summary just scratches the surface.

Images: Takashi Murai/NYT.

A French man under treatment for Parkinson's disease has been awarded 197,000 euros ($256,927) in damages after claiming that the drug Requip turned him into a gay sex and gambling addict. The drug, which is developed by British pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline, is extremely effective at curbing the symptoms of Parkinson's — but as the Didier Jambart case suggests, users of the drug need to be on high alert for its potentially severe psychological side-effects.

Parkinson's disease, a degenerative neurological disorder characterized by shaking, stiffness, stilted speech, and balance deficiencies, destroys neurons that release dopamine — a critical neurotransmitter responsible for reward-driven learning. Basically, it's what makes us feel good when we accomplish certain tasks.

Requip, what's also known as Ropinirole, works as a dopamine agonist, what reinvigorates the dopamine receptors. But while this treatment helps to significantly reduce the symptoms of Parkinson's, it also produces a rather nasty side effect in about 17% of people who take the drug.

According to a 2010 study published the Archives of Neurology, Requip can give rise to a condition called impulse control disorder in which individuals become susceptible to such behaviors as hypersexuality, gambling, and excessive shopping.

And in the case of Didier Jambart, a 52 year-old married man with kids, when he started taking Requip in 2003, his impulse control disorder turned him into an Internet gambling addict — a habit that resulted in the loss of the family's savings, and Jambart having to resort to stealing money. By the end of this sad journey, he had lost over 82,000 euros ($106,944).

He also tried to kill himself eight times, and he became a compulsive gay sex addict. Jambart exposed himself on the Internet and started cross-dressing. He also claims that he started to engage in risky sexual encounters, including one incident that led to him being raped.

Once Jambert stopped taking Requip in 2005, his hyper-impulsivity stopped immediately — but so too did the suppression of his Parkinson's symptoms. But the damage was done — which has now been remedied in a French court (the recent 28-November ruling reaffirmed an earlier verdict).

Jambart is not the first person to sue a drug manufacturer for these side-effects. Back in 2008, Gary Charbonneau of Minneapolis won $8.2 million dollars in a similar case against Mirapex, Pfizer, and Boehringer Ingelheim. And two years ago, over a hundred patients in Australia sued Pfizer and Aspen Pharmacare over sex and gambling addictions.

Since 2006, GSK has started to put warning labels on Requip packaging — a year after Jambert's episode finally ended.

Source: AFP

Photo : Thomas Brégardis/Ouest France.

Finally, a use for 3D printers that we can all get behind! Two services are now available that can help you generate a sex toy from scratch by using a 3D printer — which can produce preconfigured dildos of various shapes, sizes, and colors. There's even an option to create an exact replica of your very own genitals. But while the idea appears to be total win, the end results aren't completely perfect — at least not yet.

This news comes to us from Venture Beat's Ricardo Bilton, who highlights two different options:

First up is Makerlove, a website that provides free sex toy designs that can be downloaded and sent out to a 3D printer queue for on-demand gratification.

Its founder, Tom Nardone, is responsible for such toys as the Hello Kitty-inspired Hello Pussycat, the tongue-shaped Organic Communicator, and the very strange Freaky Freud.

As Bilton notes, Makerlove allows for the utmost in privacy — which may be a welcome relief for those maker enthusiasts too embarrassed to go out and buy one for themselves.

There's also the New York Toy Collective, a high-end sex shop run by Chelsea Downs and Laura Parker. By using a MakerBot printer, their service allows for an almost endless array of possibilities — designs that can be altered to meet the specific needs of the individual. Customers can request changes to dimensions, color, and overall aesthetic appeal.

Bilton writes:

This process also allows them to maintain a high level of quality in their creations. Most sex toys are designed via injection molding, a massively expensive manufacturing process used to create as many products as quickly as possible. But that method is completely incompatible with New York Toy Collective's hyper-realistic silicon toys, which have to sit in a mold for longer than a day before they can be removed. Try telling that to a manufacturer focused on getting products out as fast as possible.

New York Toy Collective has also created a technique in which an exact replica of your junk can be created. Visitors to this week's 3DEA Pop Up exhibition can have their genitals scanned and replicated in silicon form.

But, as Bilton notes, the end results aren't quite perfect. First, the sex toys are slightly textured and coarse, owing to print resolutions that aren't quite high enough (although if you like it rough, however, then this might be right up your alley). And as Nardine told Venture Beat, "The resolution will improve with time. 3D printing is just like any other technology."

In addition, the material used for printing, polyvinyl alcohol, is water-soluable, meaning that water-based lubricants can't be used. And lastly, 3D printers are prohibitatively expensive; this is not something that everybody can do right now.

Read more here.

Images via Venture Beat and Makerlove.

It may look and act nothing like David from Prometheus, but big things come from humble beginnings. Tokyo University researchers and robot creator Tomotaka Takahashi are developing a tiny humanoid robot that will talk to and provide company for a Japanese astronaut during an upcoming six-month mission aboard the International Space Station. The 34-centimeter tall robot will be sent into space next summer in preparation for the arrival of ISS mission commander Koichi Wakata.

Called the Kibo Robot Project (Kibo means "hope" in Japanese), the organizers are working on a robot-human interface for use during extended missions. But its ultimate purpose extends beyond that. They describe the purpose of the project this way:

The Kibo robot has a special mission: To help solve the problems brought about by a society that has become more individualized and less communicative.

Nowdays, more and more people are living alone. It's not just the elderly — with today's changing lifestyles, it's people of all ages.

With a new style of robot-human interface, perhaps a way to solve this problem could be found. This is the goal we have in mind for this project.

To that end, the team, which includes engineers from Toyota, are developing a "communications robot" — one that will be able to recognize Wakata's face and speak to him in Japanese. It will also take photos during the trip and send information to Earth from the Kibo laboratory on the space station.

Last Thursday, a cartoon sketch of what the robot will look like was released to the public. It'll have big red boots and a black-and-silver figure. As for it's name, nothing has been chosen yet, but the organizers are asking the public for suggestions.

Source: Japan Today.

Darth Vader wouldn't be Darth Vader without James Earl Jones — no doubt about it. But that doesn't mean you can't try to recreate his spine-chilling voice with the help of some reasonably accessible audio tools — and you don't have to be a recording engineer to do it. Here are some neat ideas (along with some video tutorials) that can help make you sound like Darth Vader.

In this tutorial video, Blinkfarm uses Cubase to create a reasonably good effect. Other audio editing apps that can be used in this way include Cakewalk or Pro Tools. Unfortunately, however, these programs are relatively high-end and tend to be expensive. But if you want as realistic an effect as possible, this technique is probably your best bet. And what's great about this tutorial is that Blinkfarm walks you through the various effects you'll need (pitch shifting, phasing, chorusing, etc.) — effects that are readily accessible in most audio editing software and external FX units. The exact software program is not important — it's the way these effects are stacked — what creates that characteristic Darth Vader sound.

If Cubase or ProTools is too expensive, you can always download Audacity for free. The video to your left will show you how to do it with this open source, cross-platform program. The effect may not sound as realistic, but it's better than nothing. It's also important to remember that the source voice should resemble James Earl Jones as much as possible, so you may want to recruit a friend with a deep voice, or even hire some voice talent.

For those in need of something more portable, like for your next cosplay adventure, there are a several options. There's Hasbro's $200 voice changing mask, though it produces a tinny, robotic sound that's not very realistic. Actually, it's quite awful — but again, it all depends on your need. And if you need to keep it real cheap, there are masks as low as $15.00 with voice presets.

Now, if you're not afraid of getting into some DIY, this video from NBNA100 will definitely be of interest to you. His portable design calls for an iPod i-Station 11 and a Ben-10 voice changer. What's great about this design, aside from the low cost, is that your voice will be amplified (it's 6 watts) to help it stand out and mask your source voice. It's also flat, so it can rest underneath the chest plate.

I'm sure there are other ideas and products available. If you have any suggestions, please add to comments.

Image: MemeMachine.

A secretive and mysterious private firm called The Golden Spike Company is expected to make a major announcement this coming Thursday about its plans to undertake a private expedition to the moon by 2020. If the internet rumors are to be believed, these plans could see humans return to the lunar surface.

Not much is known about the company, but speculation has been rampant. At first it was thought that entrepreneurial backers included Warren Buffet and Richard Branson, but these claims have since be proven false. What is known, however, is that Golden Spike Co. (a reference to the ceremonial spike that connected the US transcontinental railroad in 1869) was founded by planetary scientist and aerospace engineer Alan Stern — the science chief who ran NASA's directorate from 2007 to 2008.

Though no official website exists, Golden Spike has a Facebook page and twitter feed. The Internet domain goldenspikecompany.com is registered to Doug Griffith, an LA-based attorney who specializes in space and aviation law — and an advocate for commercial human spaceflight.

According to NASASpaceflight.com, "the effort is led by a group of high profile individuals from the aerospace industry and backed by some big money and foreign investors." But while the exact details of who is funding the project remain vague, some details of the proposed mission are starting to emerge:

The company intends to use "existing or soon to be existing launch vehicles, spacecraft, upper stages, and technologies" to start their commercial manned lunar campaign.

The details point to the specific use of US vehicles, with a basic architecture to utilize multiple launches to assemble spacecraft in Low Earth Orbit (LEO). The details make direct reference to the potential use of propellant depots and fuel transfer technology.

Additional notes include a plan to park elements in lunar orbit, staging a small lunar lander that would transport two commercial astronauts to the surface for short stays.

The architecture would then grow into the company's long-term ambitions to establish a man-tended outpost using inflatable modules. It is also understood that the company has already begun the design process for the Lunar Lander.

And as Parabolic Arc reports, the plan is derived from an earlier proposal with the title "Independent Human Moon Mission: Prospects Emerging From Rising Tide of 21st Century Exploration", described as "a privately circulated proposal, known as 'Golden Spike' and backed by respected scientific and astronautical entities, envisions the development of a reliable 'Cislunar Superhighway.'"

According to The Examiner, the private company has reserved a launch of the SpaceX Falcon Heavy at a cost of $120 million — which can lift 54 metric tons to low Earth orbit. The cost of each human-occupied lunar expedition is pegged at $2 billion.

The press conference is scheduled for Thursday, December 6, at the National Press Club. According to the media briefing, the Golden Spike Company will be making a "game-changing announcement about the future of commercial human space travel to the Moon." The firm is also expected to finally describe the team, the mission architecture, and the business model.

Top image: NASA>John Frassanito and Associates.

Anthony Paletta of The Awl has collected a series of coffee table books which showcase the remarkable and often strange structures that were designed and built during the Cold War. And as a quick scan of his gallery shows, many of these buildings were clearly inspired by utopian longings and an aesthetic sensibility pulled straight from science fiction. Here are some of our favorites!

Paletta describes this unique era in architecture:

Milan Kundera wrote, in The Unbearable Lightness of Being, "in the realm of totalitarian kitsch, all answers are given in advance and preclude any questions." Questions, as we have seen, such as "am I in the wrong city?" and "are you my wife?" but this is immaterial. Totalitarian kitsch, in the realm of architecture, poses innumerable questions once the core of the totalitarian has passed. Architecture in totalitarian societies unquestionably constitutes an exercise of power; the question stands how effective this exercise remains once that rule has passed, and whether the nature of a given totalitarianism is indissolubly bound up in the stone, concrete, and steel to which it gave form. Some particularly egregious symbols are demolished, but far more often, buildings are simply repurposed and assume some new identity. The Reich Chancellery was demolished, with excellent cause; but the Luftwaffe headquarters now houses the German Finance Ministry. Few today, outside of perhaps any especially melodramatic Greek circles, would think that this amounts to any sort of continuity of purpose.

Some wish to expunge the physical memory of totalitarian rule as fully as possible; others believe in retaining some memory of the humane strivings of these former socialist states, that would design and build a puppet theater, or a "children's health resort basin" or countless other facilities for public recreation. These debates continue. There are, of course, far more buildings that many would like to see demolished, and this not because of the buildings' latent symbolic power, but simply because they are godawful monstrosities. But, as you may have heard, money is not something in which the former Eastern bloc is generally much awash, and so they stand.

You can read more about these remarkable buildings at The Awl.

We've seen this coming for the past two years, but the American Psychiatric Association has finally made it official: The upcoming DSM-V — the so-called bible of psychiatry — will no longer be including Asperger's syndrome as an official diagnosis. Instead, it will be subsumed within the broader definition of "autism spectrum disorder." The change is being met with mixed reactions, but some Aspies, like psychology student Joshua Muggleton, say it's an important adjustment whose time has come.

Opponents worry that the absence of Asperger's will exclude some people from being properly diagnosed. Others fear that they won't get the treatments, funding, and services that are required.

Even Muggleton, who now welcomes the change, was resistant at first. He worried that its absence would impose a big and unwanted change to his identity. But looking at the issue more closely, he decided to set his personal views aside and investigate how it is that we classify Asperger's syndrome. Writing in the Guardian:

Contrary to my views as an Aspie, after looking at the research I was forced to conclude that actually, the DSM-V is a big step in the right direction. For years, studies have been suggesting that autism and Asperger's syndrome are the same condition, differentiated only by level of impairment. It's what I see in everyday life too. My brother, for example, clearly has some form of autism, but could fit both diagnoses equally well. Therefore, it does seem to be a positive move.

While from a professional and (somewhat begrudgingly) a personal standpoint I can support the DSM-V, I still have concerns. I worry what will happen to people like myself who currently have a diagnosis of Asperger's syndrome. Will this diagnosis be continued in good faith, or will I have to be assessed for an autism spectrum condition? If I do have to be re-assessed, there is a good chance that myself and many like me will come out without any form of diagnosis. While for me, Asperger's syndrome does not cause any significant impairment, it is still a very different way of thinking to everybody around me. What then should I call it? A personality quirk?

Others may not be so lucky. Some people with Asperger's syndrome may lose any sort of diagnostic label, but still require support, which they can only access via a diagnosis. Here I have to trust that doctors and administrators will use their discretion to ensure that people who need support will still be able to access it, even if they don't meet all of the new diagnostic criteria.

Muggleton admits that the term is not going to be lost overnight, and that it could take nearly a decade for it to disappear completely from the popular vernacular.

As for where this all leaves him, he says it won't end the camaraderie he feels with his fellow Aspies. "Instead, I feel we are opening up the fraternity of Aspie to our autistic friends... I will be proud to call myself someone on the autistic spectrum," he concludes.

Read Muggleton's entire OpEd at the Guardian.

An historian of science from New York University has re-interpreted a correspondence between Albert Einstein and Erwin Schrodinger in which the two scientists argued about the nature of the cosmological constant — a kluge that Einstein embedded in his general theory of relativity to explain why the Universe was neither expanding or contracting (what scientists thought at the time). According to Alex Harvey, without the two of them even realizing it, they were actually discussing the potential for dark energy — an idea that wouldn't hit the cosmological radar for another 70 years.

Back when he proposed the general theory of relativity in 1916, Einstein didn't know that the universe was expanding. In his mind, the size of the cosmos was fixed — what was being held in place by this thing he called the 'cosmological constant.' Without it, the universe would have contracted or expanded in accordance to the amount of mass within it. This mysterious force, argued Einstein, was what held everything together in place.

Of course, he had to revise his idea during the late 1920s after scientists discovered that the universe was in fact expanding. After he removed the constant from his equations, Einstein referred to it as the biggest blunder of his career.

But as history now knows, it wasn't that bad of a blunder. In fact, he was actually on to something.

As Alex Harvey has now revealed in a recent paper, Einstein, in conversation with Schrodinger, described a characteristic of the cosmological constant that is now regarded as a fixture of dark energy theory — the idea that it's a non-uniform force in the cosmos that's pushing everything outwards. Moreover, he dismissed the idea right there and then on account of the problems it would create for physicists trying to quantify it — something that has most certainly happened.

Specifically, Einstein and Schrodinger were discussing the properties of the cosmological constant and speculating about what form it might take. Schrodinger wondered if the "cosmic gravitational field" would be fixed or varied in terms of its strength, to which Einstein responded:

This means, one not only has to start out from the hypothesis of the existence of a nonobservable negative density in interstellar spaces but also has to postulate a hypothetical law about the space-time distribution of this mass density. The course taken by Herr Schrodinger does not appear possible to me because it leads too deeply into the thicket of hypotheses.

Bingo. As Harvey notes in his paper, "Einstein described not only the central problem of the search for dark energy but the headaches in formulating its structure." Indeed, Einstein predicted the exact problem now confronting cosmologists as they struggle to devise a coherent theory that explains the exact mechanics of dark energy. They know it's there — but exactly how it works and how it's proportioned throughout the cosmos is a complete mystery.

You can read the entire paper here.

H/t Technology Review.

Top image: lps.ens.fr. Dark energy graphic via NASA/STSci/Ann Feild, Einstein image.

Cognitive scientists have yet to create a functional, working model of the human brain. Our computers are way too slow, and our understanding of the brain is way too primitive. But that doesn't mean we can't create a model of the functioning brain at a much smaller scale. And in fact, this is exactly what a group of researchers from Waterloo University in Canada have done — what they're calling the largest functioning model to date.

It's called Spaun, short for Semantic Pointer Architecture Unified Network — a system that is powered by over 2.5 million simulated neurons. And fascinatingly, every neuron is an entity unto itself; each of them captures the biological detail of a real, biological neuron — including which neurotransmitters are used, how voltages are generated in the cell, and how they communicate.

Sub-networks then mimic the structure and functions of several anatomical areas, including perception, action, and cognitive control. In other words, it has a virtual prefrontal cortex, basal ganglia, and thalamus — what enables Spaun to ‘think' about its environment and respond to the patterns it encounters. As a result, it it can simulate complex behaviors such as thinking, remembering, seeing, and interacting with its environment.

Researcher Chris Eliasmith and his colleagues are using the simulated brain to perform a series of simple, yet distinguable tasks — what's comparable to a human's ability to shift from task to task. Specifically, Spaun has been given problems involving perceptual, cognitive, and motor tasks. It uses its network of neurons to answer questions given to it via a small screen, and it draws its answers with a mechanical arm. So the system is not just cerebral; the researchers have endowed it with a kind of physicality.

Spaun is capable of completing any one of eight different tasks, each of which requires a different set of cognitive skills. So, for example, it can memorize a list of numbers, or recognize an object.

And Spaun likes to take its time; it takes about 2.5 hours of computer time for every second of simulation — a consequence of the system's massively reduced scale relative to the human brain.

According to the researchers, Spaun could eventually be used to understand how changes to the brain affect changes to behavior. For example, a gradual loss of neurons can be modeled against cognitive decline in humans — what is a similar deficiency.

In addition, the researchers hope to use Spaun as a way to improve machine intelligence as a whole, such as controlling the flow of information through a large system that's attempting to solve a difficult task.

It's important to note that Spaun is driven exclusively by the interplay of algorithms and its simulated neurons, and not by any kind of conscious awareness. Its ability to contextualize and solve problems is not an indication of any kind of internal reflection about what it's supposed to do or how it relates to its environment.

That said, it's quite possible that a real, conscious mind taps into these problem solving processes as it engages in cognition. So while it's not a complete model by any extent of the imagination, it's very likely an important partial model.

But until neuroscienctists develop a proper model for consciousness, systems like Spaun are merely script-driven automatons — even if it is a system comprised of 2.5 million artificial neurons.

You can read the entire study at Science.

Paleontologists have identified what may be the earliest specimen of a dinosaur on record, a discovery that could reset the clock on when these animals first emerged. The new species, Nyasasaurus parringtoni, is so ancient that researchers are reluctant to declare it a true dinosaur. The dog-sized biped may actually represent a ‘missing link' — what would be the closest known relative to dinosaurs.

The fossilized remains of Nyasasaurus were actually discovered in Tanzania during the 1930s, but it was only recently that a more rigorous analysis of the bones was conducted. The project was led by Sterling Nesbitt, a postdoctoral biology researcher at the University of Washington.

Nyasasaurus lived in the Middle Triassic, about 10 to 15 million years earlier than other dinosaurs (what was the Late Triassic period). The finding now indicates that dinosaurs — assuming that that's what this is — first emerged around 245 to 250 million years ago, a time when the Earth's landmass consisted of the giant Pangaea supercontinent. The finding suggests that dinosaurs were not a dominant vertebrate group during their early evolution.

The herbivore stood upright, was about seven to 10 feet in length (two to three meters), and stood three feet up from the hip (one meter). It likely weighed between 45 and 135 pounds (20 to 60 kilograms).

Interestingly, some paleontologists have suggested that, based on such evidence as fossilized footprints and other clues, dinosaurs may very well have existed during the Middle Triassic. The discovery of Nyasasaurus now adds weight to this hypothesis.

But the researchers note that if Nyasasaurus is not the earliest dinosaur, then it is the closest relative found so far. Nesbitt's team is hoping that further research will shed some light on the possibility.

What they do know, however, is that the new species features a number of characteristics consistent with early dinos and their close relatives. For example, the bone tissues in the upper arm were woven haphazardly — an indication of rapid growth, what is a common feature of dinosaurs and their close relatives. It also had an enlarged crest in its upper arm bone, which would have anchored its upper arm muscles; this elongated deltopectoral crest is also common to early dinosaurs. Additionally, it had a lot of bone cells and blood vessels, what's only seen in birds and some mammals.

Consequently, the paleontologists say it's a good example of a transitional species — a link between dinosaurs and their lizard-like ancestors.

The researchers conclude their study by suggesting that dinosaurs were part of a large diversification of archosaurs, a group that dominated the Triassic period 250 million to 200 million years ago.

The entire study can be read at Biology Letters.

All images: Natural History Museum.

One of the most challenging tasks for the modern day creationist to is reconcile the belief in a 6,000 year old Earth with the ever-growing mountain of scientific evidence pointing to a vastly different conclusion — namely a universe that's 13.5 billion years old and an Earth that formed 4.5 billion years ago. So, given these astoundingly dramatic discrepancies, biblical literalists and 'young Earth creationists' have had no choice but to get pretty darned imaginative when brushing science aside. Here are 10 arguments creationists have made to counter scientific theories.

1. Humans and dinosaurs co-existed

Quite obviously, creationists aren't able to gloss over the fact that dinosaurs existed. They are clearly a part of the fossil record. But in accordance with the the Bible, creationists insist that they lived contemporaneously to humans. And in fact, they say this explains why dragons play a prominent role in our mythological record. Moreover, creationists claim that human footprints have been found alongside dinosaur tracks at Paluxy, that a petrified hammer was found in Cretaceous rocks, and that some sandal footprints have been found alongside trilobites. Other theories suggest that the Great Flood shook up and redeposited the fossil record so that it appears that dinosaurs lived millions of years before humans arrived. Real evidence and proper interpretation of the fossil record, however, supports the idea that humans first emerged about 200,000 years ago — long after the demise of dinosaurs who went extinct 65 million years ago.

2. Biological systems are too complex to have evolved

This is what biochemist Michael Behe refers to as irreducible complexity. He and other creationists complain that a complex biological system, what is comprised of many interacting parts, would cease to function properly in the event of any alteration. Proponents of intelligent design use this argument to claim that anything less than the complete form of a fully functional biological system (or organ) would not work at all — what would be catastrophically detrimental to an organism. In other words, all mutations have to be bad. The only way for an organism to evolve, the ID defenders say, is for God to guide the process every step of the way. This is silly, of course — organisms are not that fragile. And in fact, evolvability is an indelible aspect to life.

3. We can see light from distant galaxies because the speed of light is not constant

When we look up at the sky at night, we're actually looking back in time. Given the vastness of the universe, it can take upwards of millions and even billions of years for the light from the most distant celestial objects to reach us. Creationists have a rather convenient explanation for this problem: The universal constants, including the speed of light, are not constant at all. It's quite possible, they surmise, that the speed of light was significantly faster in the past, allowing it to reach the Earth in time for Adam to see it. Others speculate that the Big Bang theory is simply wrong, and that a new ‘creationist cosmology' is required to reconcile the apparent anomaly in our observations. As the Creation Answers Handbook claims:

The basic biblical framework, because it comes from the Creator, is nonnegotiable, as opposed to the changing views and models of fallible people seeking to understand the data within that framework (evolutionists also often change their ideas on exactly how things have made themselves, but never whether they did).

Failing this, creationists can always default to the most convenient of explanations: God simply created the light ‘on it's way,' so that observers on Earth could see the stars immediately without having to wait. Mmmm, handwaving....

4. All hominid fossils are either fully human or fully ape

Given that Scripture doesn't provision for evolution, the discovery of ancient human relatives like Australopithecines and Neanderthals is deeply problematic. To explain this away, creationists argue that anthropologists are misreading the fossil record and inaccurately conflating Homo sapiens with other ape species. When it comes to Neanderthals, they say there was no such thing — that these are human remains and not some distant relative. And to explain the morphological differences, creationists simply argue that these were disfigured humans, or people suffering from rickets or arthritis.

5. Stars and planets could have never formed from dust

According to Abraham Loeb, an astrophysicist from Harvard whose work gets cherry picked by creationists, "The truth is that we don't understand star formation at a fundamental level." Creationists, like Jonathan Sarfat, have used the arguments of Loeb and others to make their case against the ‘nebular hypothesis' — the theory that stars and planets formed over the course of billions of years as gravity brought gasses and particles together to create large masses. It's impossible, they say, for stars to form from nebulas. They claim that terrestrial planets could never congeal from "blobs" of gas and dust, as other objects would constantly provide resistance and disruption. Creationists also argue that the temperature of nebulas following the Big Bang would have been far too hot to facilitate contraction, and that the particles would have pushed away from each other. Other inconsistencies include the sun's axial tilt and the presence of inexplicable gas giants. As Sarfat notes, the best explanation comes from the Bible, "By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host." In other words, when in doubt, attribute any kind of natural phenomenon to God. Gotcha.

6. The Second Law of Thermodynamics prohibits evolution

The second law of thermodynamics states that the universe and all its systems are progressively moving towards disorder, or entropy. Evolution, on the other hand, implies the improvement of a species — what creationists say is a gross violation of the Second Law. This contradiction, say the creationists, implies that ‘evolutionists' are fundamentally wrong in their assumptions — that changes to systems should be regressive and not progressive. What they fail to understand, however, is that the 2LT should only be applied to the universe as a whole, or a closed energy system — which the Earth is most certainly not. But moreover, evolution does not always lead to improvement or increased complexity. Organisms are either well adapted or poorly suited to their environments at any given point in time. And in fact, some species evolve towards too much complexity (i.e. over-specialization) and detrimental adaptations that can lead to outright extinction. Evolution is by no means a process of improvement; it's merely an autonomous system that's driven by variation and selection.

7. The Flood caused the ice age

Like the presence of dinosaurs, the ice age is another conundrum that demands a response — a glacial period that occurred during the last years of the Pleistocene, approximately 110,000 to 10,000 years ago. Actually, this is an easy one, say the creationists. According to Genesis, most of the Flood water came from underground — what resulted in warmer than average oceans and a significant increase in global snowfall. This gave rise to the ice sheets and the pluvial periods. In addition, large amounts of volcanic dust in the atmosphere blocked crucial sunlight, which caused cooler summers. Moreover, the ice age is a geological phenomenon that can also explain why there's no trace of the Great Flood in the sedimentary record. And on a related note, some creationists contend that the sedimentary layers were caused by the tremendous weight of the flood waters above the ground.

8. Radiocarbon dating doesn't work

For years, scientists have used radiocarbon dating to get a sense of how old ancient objects really are. They're able to do this by exploiting the naturally occurring radioisotope carbon-14 (14C) to estimate the age of carbon-bearing materials. To sweep this inconvenient truth aside, some creationists claim that radioisotope decay rates aren't constant — and that all processes in nature vary according to different factors. Others argue that carbon dating gives inaccurate results, pointing to changing ratios of 14C in the atmosphere and varying amounts of cosmic rays reaching the Earth — what would affect the amount and ratios of 14C produced. Additionally, some claim that the Genesis Flood would have greatly upset the carbon balance; the water, they argue, buried huge amounts of carbon (which became coal, oil, etc.) lowering the total 12C in the biosphere. Read this to see why they're wrong.

9. DNA is God's signature on all living things

Some creationists argue that DNA, by virtue of the fact that it contains stored information that can be read by humans, must be the result of intelligence. The information within DNA — what facilitates the assembling of proteins and enzymes — wouldn't be coherent if someone, namely God, wasn't scripting it. Creationists clearly need to ramp-up on information theory if they ever hope to understand how complex systems actually work — and how the scientific endeavor is largely an effort to translate the mysteries of the universe into a language we can understand.

10. The Grand Canyon was formed by receding flood waters

The Grand Canyon formed about 70 million years ago — at a time when the dinosaurs still ruled the Earth. This geological time scale is obviously a problem for creationists, who simply respond by suggesting that it was created in one fell swoop when the flood waters retreated (it's amazing how many things can be explained by the Great Flood). Not only is there no evidence to support this claim, it is a geologic impossibility. Moreover, it would have likely created a huge, straight, washed out chasm, and not the intricate and winding Grand Canyon we know today. And of course, creationists are loath to explain why there's only one Grand Canyon on Earth.

Want to learn more about debunking creationism? Check these books out:

• The Counter-Creationism Handbook
• Believing Bullshit

• Other sources: EvoWiki, TalkOrigins, Creation.com.

  Images: One Million Years BC, Monty Props, NASA, Getty/Discovery, NASA/JPL-Caltech/T. Pyle (SSC), West Hills, Christoph Bock (Max Planck Institute for Informatics), Julius Reque.

Greenpeace has released a new video as part of its ongoing Detox campaign — what is an edgy and completely new look for the environmentalist organization. And as you'll see, the video is really well done — a dystopian-infused call-to-action that unabashedly intertwines a Hunger Games motif with an anime flair. But will this highly styled video inspire, or simply titillate the complacent masses?

For the new advertising campaign, Greenpeace is trying to stop industries from poisoning waterways around the world with "hazardous, persistent and hormone-disrupting chemicals." The campaign, which was launched in July 2011, is hoping to draw attention to alleged links between textile manufacturing facilities that are causing toxic water pollution in China and many of the world's top clothing brands.

Armed with the slogan, "Detox Our Future," Greenpeace has also recruited a number of heavy-hitting sponsors, including Nike, Adidas, Puma, H&M, M&S, C&A, Li-Ning and Zara.

As for the new animated video, it was a collaboration with Free Range Studios and animation from China-based Animaster Animation.

The manga-style video unfolds like a Hollywood trailer, placing the blame for pollution squarely on the shoulders of various fashion brands. According to Greenpeace creative director Tommy Crawford, the video "was designed to speak both to our own supporters, but also a broader audience in order to raise awareness of the fashion industry's toxic addiction."

H/t Creative Review.